LDS Books

Vanished
By Lynn Gardner
Hardcover
Genre: Mystery
361 pages
List Price: $19.95
My Price: $10.00

First Paragraph:
Mary Margaret McKenzie took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, put on her most professional face, and swung open the heavy glass door of the newpaper office. She paused momentarily to take in the desks scattered throughout the large room, the glassed partition in the center and private office doors that rimmed the big central office, then strode straight to the reception desk with no hint of hesitation or uncertainty.

The Inside Flap:
There is a saying that everyone has a double. In Maggie McKenzie's case, the saying is not only true, but the starting point for a troublin--and deadly--mystery.

Maggie has just begun her first job as a full-fledged newspaper reporter. It's a dream come true. But soon the young journalist finds she is captivated by what should be old news--a girl who vanished years ago. Intrigued by what she has heard about the missing girl, Maggie takes advantage of her travels for another assignment to try to solve the mystery of Laurel Lawson's disappearance. While on her cross-country quest, Maggie meets psychologist Dr. Flynn Ford, who is interested in helping her solve the puzzle--and in getting to know Maggie better. But as the pair inches closer to the truth, witnesses begin turning up dead. And it appears Maggie and Flynn could be nest. Could the woman Maggie thinks might be her sister be trying to kill her?

Join an extremely likeable heroine in a fast-paced tale of suspense. Vanished will leave you searching for the next Maggie McKenzie mystery.






MasqueradeBy Sierra St. James
Genre: Fiction
267 Pages
List Price: $13.95
My Price: $6.50

First Paragraph:
"...and they lived happily ever after." Slade shut the book and looked down at his daughter. "Now it's time for you to go to bed."

The Back Cover:
When Clarissa takes a much-needed job under slightly false pretenses, she doesn't think it will be anything to do with men for a long, long time, so until she can straighten things out. But when the boss is movie star Slade Jacobson, and the job takes her to Hawaii with him and a whole cast of show-business personalities, it becomes harder than she thought to keep up the masquerade!





The Heart has its Reasons
By Kerry Blair
Genre: Fiction
246 pages
List Price: $13.95
My Price: $7.00


First Paragraph:
"Romance is a poor substitute for reason," Andi Reynolds said calmly as she backed her car from the driveway of her suburban home. "Especially when eternity's at stake." She glanced at her sister's skeptical face and smiled. "Sterling may not be as dashing as the heroes in those silly novels you read, Clytie, but he's everything a woman could want in an eternal companion."

Back Cover:
Andi Reynolds has always had a plan for everything in her life, and Sterling Channing is exactly the kind of person who fits her checklist for the right kind of husband. Everyone but Andi's little sister agrees taht Andi and Sterling will make the perfect couple. Then ANdi meets Greg Howland four days before Sterling returns from his mission.

Greg has found a success he never imagined possible, but what started as a dream is becoming a nightmare. Still mourning the death of his brother, Greg Howland is also still paying a painful price for his brother's mistakes.

When Greg meets Andi he feels a whisper of hope for a better life, but is there room in Andi's life for somone like him?

The Heart Has Its Reasons is a romantic novel for everyone who still believes in following their heart!






The Trial of Mary Lou
By Ron Carter
Genre: Fiction
123 Pages
List Price: $6.95
My Price: $3.00

First Paragraph:
"O mercy, mercy me!" Mary Lou Hubbard clapped her small, delicate hands over her mouth as her huge, violet-blue eyes widened.

Back Cover:
One warm June day back in 1931, Mary Lou Hubbard took the worn family Winchester .30-30 from the peg on the wall of her family's cabin in Settlement, Idaho. Her sights rested on the form of Corvis Lumley rowing his way across the Snake River. He was intent on making trouble, and Mary Lou knew it.

Although she loaded only enough ammunition to sink Lumley's boat and humiliate him as he sunk 20 yards from shore, he wasn't going to let her get away with it.

Lumley claimed attempted murder, and so began the trial of Mary Lou Hubbard--a trial that brought together the unlikely combination of a Harvard graduate, an eighty-nine-year-old defense counselor, and a grizzled old clerk who wore the judge's black robes because the judge refused to.

The Trial of Mary Lou, kpart of Ron Carter's clever Settlement series, is certain to delight readers as it tells the story of some 1930s mountain folk who have their own hilarious and warm way of dealing with the law.





Stephanie
By Jack Weyland
Genre: Fiction
208 Pages
My Price: $4.00

First Paragraph:
It was a perfect night for a keg party. An afternoon rain had left behind clear sky and the smell of pine.

Back Cover:
Stephanie Bradshaw leads a double life. Outwardly she's a funloving, vivacious teenager who attends church regularly with her family and seems to be well adjusted in school and at home. But when she's alone or with her friends, she can't wait for the highs she gets from alcohol and drugs.

This story is one that is all too real, one that affects the lives of many young people and those who love them. Stephanie and her family finally come to grips with their problems and learn to trust and communicate with one another--but only after some very difficult decisions and experiences. Her story is one that every teenager and young adult, every parent and family member, every teacher and youth leader needs to read!

Jack Weyland has published many short stories, articles, and novels, including Charly, Sam, Michelle and Debra, Kimberly, and Sara, Whenever I Hear Your Name.




Jake
By Jack Weyland
Hardcover
Genre: Fiction
171 Pages
List Price: $15.95
My Price: $8.00

First Paragraph:
When Jake Petricelli was nineteen, he died. Or at least he thought he did. While he was dead, he fell in love with an angel. Not a real angel, of course. Andrea is good, but not that good.

Inside Flap:
With the train gone, he looked across the tracks to the station platform. There stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Back-lighted by the sun, she had long brown hair with auburn highlights and was wearing an elegant, creamy-white, long dress. What struck him most, though, was that she appeared to be waiting for someone.

Jake knew what that meant. He had experienced the darkness; he had seen the oncoming light. His time on earth was over, and this beautiful creature had come to escort him to the afterlife.

Nineteen-year-old Jake Petricelli is a young, buff, drap-dead handsome television star who is quickly gaining a reputation as every woman's heartthrob. He's had his pick of girls, but up until now he's never met anyone quite like Andrea Warner.

The trouble is, Jake's not exactly Andrea's type, and the only way he knows how to get close to her is to pretend to be something he's not.

In Jake, best-selling author Jack Weyland introduces us to an unlikely couple. Readers will fall in love with Jake and Andrea and yearn for them to find some common ground. But what can you do if you're a Mormon girl, brought up to believe in temple marriage, and the only boy you've ever loved is not only a nonmember but a selfish, chronic liar?





Wild Card
By Jennie Hansen
Genre: Fiction
248 Pages
List Price: $15.95
My Price: $7.50

First Paragraph:
"Shh!" Frank placed his hand over Beau's mouthg. "Old Man Davis is coming." He glanced beyond the outhouse at the end of the path. Beau's shoulders shook with mirth. Together, the two boys watched a lamplight bob and weave its way through the trees. From their hiding place, they had a perfect view of both the path and the back of the small wood structure.

Back Cover:
He started for the window, then turned back for the quilt Ma had made for him. For just a moment he paused...thinking of his mother. It was almost as though she stood before him. He could clearly see disappointment in her eyes. He shook off the image then folded the quilt, rolling it into a tight bundle. He'd be in Galveston in no time. An exciting new life waited for him.

So begins Jennie Hansen's latest action-packed novel that is as full of twists and turns as the road to Galveston and Frank's new life. Set in turn-of-the-century America, this epic tale is as vast and sweeping as the plains of Texas...and beyond.

Filled with breathtaking suspense, Frank's story is one of misunderstandings, betrayals, heartaches--and deadly secrets. Bound together with an assortment of unsavory characters on the wrong side of the law, yet separated from them by his differing ideals, Frank finds himself in a race against time to save lives, even scores, and heal old wounds.

This relentlessly paced story hurtles toward a showdown that will keep the reader riveted. It is a timeless tale of the struggle between good and evil, and of one man's journey to find himself--and God.






A Shawl and a Violin
By Randall L. Hall
Genre: Young Adult
119 Pages
Price: $3.50

First Paragraph:
"Careful, careful! If you break anything you'll be grounded until your missions!"

Back Cover:
Noticing a dark green ribbon attached to the edge of the trunk, Catherine lifted it slowly. The bottom of the trunk came up several inches. Her heart beat a little faster and she carefully pulled it up all the way. She gasped with surprise and delight.

When two antique trunks that once belonged to her great-great-great-grandmother arrive at Catherine Carter's house, the whole family excited. Anything could be inside: journals, photographs, family heirlooms.

But what Catherine discovers in one of the trunks is not at all what she expected. Inside is a key to the past that will take her back in time to the early 1800s and the lives of her pioneer ancestors.

Catherine's discovery leads to a chain of adventures that sends her to the green hills of England, the raging waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and the beautiful city of Nauvoo, Illinois. She learns that her ancestors are more than just names on her family tree--they are her friends. Her story will delight young readers as they travel back in time and learn for themselves the importance of family.





Samuel: Moroni's Young Warrior
An Unforgettable Book of Mormon Adventure
By Clair Poulson
263 Pages
My Price: $2.50

First Paragraph:
A gentle breeze stirred the stale air of the little room giving tantalizing hints of fresh, moist grass and flowering shrubs. The room held four miserable, depressed captives. Samuel shuffled over and inhaled a refreshing breath of the fragrant air that entered through the small barred window. Samuel fully six feet tall though he was only sixteen, stood at the narrow window as he gazed at the high, timbered wall of the city. The wall was only a few feet from the pathetic house where he and his family had spent the past few weeks in utter misery.

Back Cover:
Samuel is a strong and dtermined 16-year-old Nephite who escapes from Lamanite captivity and devises a plan that ultimately frees his whole village. He is presented the Medal of Valor by Captain Moroni--an honor never before given one so young. Samuel befriends an injured Lamanite, Gadoni, and together they experience high adventure as they march with Captain Moroni to free the land from the Lamanite menace.






On My Own... And Clueless
An LDS Guide to Independent Life
By Clark L. and Kathryn H. Kidd
Genre: Self-help
380 Pages
List Price: $17.95
My Price: $3.00
First Paragraph:
It is a sad fact that most people spend the first half of their lives wishing time would speed up and then spend the second half wishing time would slow down. When we're young, we can't wait for the next phase of life to begin. We look forward to that first bicycle, because a two-wheeler sets us apart from the "little kids." We count the day suntil we're eligible for a driver's license, because we can have more freedom and be less dependent upon Mom and Dad as chauffeurs. We're even excited to get our first part-time job, because that paycheck gives us the ability to buy our own stuff--some of which our parents would never get for us!

Back Cover:
If you're like most people setting out on your own for the first time, you're ready to test your wings. You've been under your parents' protective watch long enough, and you're ready to show the world that you're confident, capable, and in control of your life. You're on top of the world--at least at first. But when one day the toilet clogs, your car breaks down, your roommate stops talking to you, and the check for your rent bounces, you might suddenly feel--well--clueless.

In On My Own...and Clueless, authors Clark L. and Kathryn H. Kidd not only teach you how to repair your toilet, car, friendship, and bank account, but they also cover most any other catastrophe that may come your way. Including the few anecdotes of what the Kidds got right and packed with example of their mishaps, this book will help you through the perils of independent life.

But more than a survival guide, On My Own...and Clueless shows you how to survive with finesse. You'll learn the tricks to finding the dwelling place of your dreams; you'll find out that cooking can be fun and easy (even for those who have subsisted thue far solely on a diet of cold cereal and French fries); you'll learn how to keep (or gain) good health; you'll discover ways to make money and to stay out of debtor's prison; and you'll discover keys to growing mentally, socially, and spiritually.

As the authors wisely observe, "Although there are a few crocodiles in this pond called life, you can avoid most of them with the proper training and preparation." With an lyck, ten years from now you'll look back and say, "Duh!" to most of this stuff, but for nw, On Muy Own...and Clueless is indeispensable.